


The Happiness Candy Cane

by pimanchi_double



Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 22:19:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17170484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pimanchi_double/pseuds/pimanchi_double
Summary: "There is a legend about this candy, Sir. It is said that whoever eats this candy will find the happiness they're looking for."





	The Happiness Candy Cane

**Author's Note:**

> For our beloved Aiba's birthday and Christmas. I'm late, I know xD

"Thank you very much for your help," the old lady said, flashing her polite smile towards Jun, who bowed politely in return.

He straightened his body back after hearing the sound of the car door being closed and the engine drove away. Didn't wait for the car to get lost from his sight, Jun turned and pushed the now empty trolley back into the mall building, and got on the slow moving track which would bring him back to the Fancymart on the basement floor, where he was working at.

Halfway on the moving track—where he could take a peek to the floor below—as usual, his gaze fell to a certain shop on his right side; to a bakery and candy shop called Sweet-oh-so-Sweet!; more precisely to one of the shopkeepers there, who was now sitting alone behind the cashier desk, reading something on his phone.

It had been more than two months now since Jun began his part-time job at Fancymart. And it meant that it had also been more than two months since his attention got stolen by that certain shopkeeper.

Jun didn't know just how or why he could be attracted that much to that shopkeeper ever since the first time he saw him. And now that he thought about it, maybe it was his smile...? His bright, contagious smile, that looked like the sunshine for him. Or was it his cheerful look, which made Jun thought that the man must have nothing to worry about in his life, that he could look that positive all the time?

Because Jun himself tended to be negative all the time with his life, so, just like how different magnet poles attracted each other, it might be how the man's positive aura attracted Jun's negative one so strongly like that.

Yeah, that must be it, Jun concluded.

He was about to reach the end of the moving track, when Jun suddenly noticed that the man behind the cashier desk was... crying. His shoulders shuddered a bit, as he wiped the tears that had started to wet his face. And before Jun could think straight, he had already jumped off the moving track in one big step, and, leaving the trolley just like that near the bottom of the moving track, he entered Sweet-oh-so-Sweet! in a rush.

The man behind the cashier desk was surprised to see Jun entering his shop abruptly like that. He quickly wiped the remaining tears on his eyes and cheeks, and plastered his usual sunshine smile on his face. Only that his smile wasn't as bright as usual today. Jun could see that there was a dark cloud surrounding the sun inside the man.

"Welcome to Sweet-oh-so-Sweet! What can I do for you, Sir?" he greeted cheerfully, though his voice was still a bit hoarse from crying earlier.

It was now Jun's turn to feel surprised: he had just realized that he was now standing face to face with the man he had been watching these last two months.

Aiba Masaki.

Jun caught a glimpse at the name tag on the man's white-stripped blue apron, before he brought his sight up to meet the shopkeeper's.

So that was his name.

"Er... I—Eh... Uhm..." he stuttered, suddenly out of words to say. Aiba-san blinked at him with his expectant smile, waiting for what he was going to say next.

Still in panic and nervous from the sudden encounter, Jun quickly scanned his surroundings to look for something he might want to buy, since he had entered this shop, and it would be so weird if he left empty-handed without even asking for something to the shopkeeper there first. It was then when his gaze fell to the pile of purple-and-green-stripped candy canes in a box near the cashier desk. And without too much thinking, he grabbed one of those candies, and brought it to the expecting Aiba-san.

"W-Well, I want to buy this," he said, handing the candy to the shopkeeper.

"Oh, that's a great choice, Sir," Aiba-san chirped, taking the candy from Jun's hand then started to decorate its plastic cover carefully with purple and green ribbons. "This one is our shop's limited item for this year's Christmas Eve. The Happiness Candy Cane."

"Happiness...?" Jun frowned, tilting his head a bit to the left.

"Yes," Aiba-san nodded, "There is a legend about this candy, Sir. It is said that whoever eats this candy will find the happiness they're looking for."

"Oh, I see..." Jun said. Then silece, as he watched Aiba-san's fingers fiddling with the decoration ribbons so skillfully.

As the man did so, Jun's gaze was glued to his face again, and he saw that the sadness was once again clouding Aiba-san's face.

"You should eat it too, then," the words came out from Jun's mouth before he could stop it, and it made Aiba-san raised his gaze to look at Jun.

"Eh?"

"Er..." Jun bit his lower lip awkwardly, averting his eyes from Aiba-san's questioning one, "The candy, I mean. You said that it could bring happiness to whoever eats it, right? So I think you should eat one too. Because for me, you look—" he stared back into Aiba-san's eyes, "Well, sad..."

A short silence, in which Jun could see the change of expression in Aiba-san's face. His fake cheerfulness had faltered, replaced by a desperate smile.

He let out a flat laughter. "I— I'm not sad, Sir. In fact, I'm smiling right now, don't you see?"

"Yes. But I can see that you're still sad, though you're smiling like that."

"I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"But I'm not sad, Sir!" Aiba-san said, half-yelling with a trembling voice. He looked like that he was in the verge of tears again. "Please don't force me to admit something that I'm actually not."

"But you are sad. I know you are, "Jun said stubbornly, in an unexpectantly very calm voice.

"Sir, please," Aiba-san pleaded, "I'm really sorry, but you know nothing about me. We've just met today. So please, stop acting like you know me better than myself!"

"But I do know, Aiba-san," Jun repeated, "I do know some things about you. I know that you like reading Shonen Jump when there's no customer in your shop. I know that everyday you have karaage for your lunch. I know that you like baseball, too, because you would occasionally miss-use the display screen over there to watch baseball matches. I know, because I'm always watching you, Aiba-san. And I know that you're sad—though I don't know what the reason is—because I saw you cried earlier. And that's why I came here. It's not because of that stupid candy. It's because of you. Because I saw you crying, and I suddenly felt like I have to be the one to stop your tears. I have to make you smile again. Because I like your smile. It's like sunshine for me. And I won't let anything take that sunshine away from me. It is you who doesn't know a thing about me, Aiba-san."

Again, words flew out from Jun's mouth uncontrollably. He didn't know why his body could become so out of control like that in front of Aiba-san. And now, that he'd realized all the things he had blabbered out, he felt his face so hot as it turned bright red.

"Y-you're... what...?" the shopkeeper spoke up with restrained voice.

An awkward silence fell between them, and Jun didn't dare to stare at Aiba-san's face.

Damn, Aiba-san must think that he was a nasty stalker now.

"I'm sorry," he finally murmured, eyes glued to his shoes, "I— I'm not a stalker or something, so you don't need to worry about me. I'm just... just... Well, just... forget all the things that I've said, okay?"

No response.

Jun braced himself to lift his gaze a bit, and he saw that Aiba-san was now busy resuming his work in decorating the candy cane's plastic cover, his expression unreadable.

"Done!" he said a minute later, and Jun immediately switched his sight to his shoes again.

The sound of some footsteps, then Jun saw a pair of feet stopped opposite to his own.

"It's Matsumoto Jun, right?" Aiba-san suddenly said his name, that Jun raised his gaze in surprise.

"Eh?"

Jun saw Aiba-san grinned towards him, and for the first time in that day, it was his real smile. The dark cloud surrounding the sun in him had finally gone.

"Your name," Aiba-san tapped the name tag on Jun's red apron with his forefinger.

"Oh," Jun nodded. "Yeah..."

"Nah. I know one thing about you now," the shopkeeper smiled softly, and Jun felt his heart skipped a beat. "And It was my ex, by the way. The reason why I cried. Today is his wedding, and to be honest, I haven't really get over him, so..."

"Oh," Jun's eyes widened, suddenly feeling bad, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you about it again. I'm—"

"Nah, it's alright, Matsumoto-kun," Aiba-san cut his apology, waving his hand in front of his face in dismissal, "It's alright now. After all, I already feel a lot better, after hearing this undirect confession from a certain someone..."

Hearing this, Jun's face turned bright red once again, that made Aiba-san giggled. Jun giggled along with him nervously, while scratching the back of his head awkwardly. He was so relieved that Aiba-san wasn't mad at him, and even gave him a positive signal.

"Here," Aiba-san offered the already-decorated candy cane to Jun, "A present for you, for making me feel a lot better."

"Eeh, no, no. I can't accept it, after all the trouble I've caused," Jun said.

"Oh, come on," Aiba-san sulked, shoving the candy into Jun's hand.

"But—"

"I insist, Matsumoto-kun," Aiba-san said strictly, and Jun knew he'd better stop arguing further.

"Well, thank you, then..."

"You're welcome. Oh, by the way, do you know who that man is, Matsumoto-kun? He's been staring at us with scary face since some times ago," Aiba-san continued, gesturing with his eyes to behind Jun.

Jun followed Aiba-san's sight, and his eyes widened in horror when he saw Domoto-san was standing there, in front of Sweet-oh-so-Sweet!, staring at him with a perfect pout and narrowed eyes. Then Jun directly remembered, that he was still in the middle of a working shift now.

"Oh crap! That's my supervisor!" he whispered panickedly to Aiba-san, "I really forgot that I'm still in the middle of work! Oh, god, he'll definitelly kill me!"

Aiba-san giggled in amusement, "Then what are you waiting for? Go, quick. Before he comes here to get you. I don't want any blood shed in my shop."

Jun grinned upon that, "Jaa, I'll come here again after my shift is over. If you don't mind, of course." he quickly added. Aiba-san nodded with a slightly pink cheeks, and Jun felt his heart fluttered. Then, after exchanging one more shy smile, with The Happiness Candy Cane already safely tucked inside his pocket, Jun turned on his heels and walked towards the furious Domoto-san outside.

He knew he would get scolded really hard after this. However, he just couldn't erase the really wide grin that was now plastered on his face.

 

*

**Author's Note:**

> A repost fic (again) from LJ, because I don't have time to finish my new fic >.<


End file.
